


Molasses

by melonbutterfly



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-06
Updated: 2009-09-06
Packaged: 2017-10-13 00:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/130660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melonbutterfly/pseuds/melonbutterfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zach and Chris are together and everyone knows it - but somehow, still, people keep flirting with Zach, even when Chris is there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Molasses

**Author's Note:**

> The title is inspired by the same-titled song by The Hush Sound.  
>  _You are made of sugar, milk and molasses  
>  So, little darlin', you attract all the bees  
> You are the gazer, you are the attraction  
> It takes a little vanity to know what it means_

Chris loves being public, he really does. He likes that there are no secrets anymore; that he doesn't still have to pay attention to the little stuff—like wearing Zach's t-shirts (a thing he loves to do) in public, for example—and that now they can stay at each other's over night for however long they want. He loves that they don't have to mind where they are anymore when they kiss, that it's irrelevant if they are only semi-public or even, heaven beware, _in public_. He loves not having to censure what he says in interviews anymore—at least not to the extent he had to before.

He pretends to be embarrassed, but he loves that his mom collects everything about them she finds, even cuts out the photos to collect them in an album when she doesn't like the article. He _was_ embarrassed (and possibly just the teeniest bit flattered and happy) when she showed it to Zach's mom when they met, and promised to make copies for her when she asked. And even though sometimes he actually is a little annoyed, he's still kind of giddy when one of their (because it's almost completely _their_ by now, not just Zach's or Chris') friends calls to tease them with whatever thing the magazines are saying about them now.

But what he most certainly does not like is that somehow, suddenly everyone seems so keen to break them up.

And he is _not_ imagining this, Chris is sure.

At first he didn't quite notice, most likely because at the beginning it wasn't quite there—everyone was so stunned (or more like, hah-I-knew-it-didn't-I or it-was-so-obvious-I-have-no-idea-why-nob

ody-noticed-before, and that special corner of the Internet that hosted their personal fangirls had basically exploded with exhilarated bliss and he had been right in the middle of it, anonymously lurking of course) that for the first couple of weeks, all the magazines needed was a photo of them together to ensure they were sold in high numbers.

Unfortunately, as journalists are wont to do, they got bored with portraying them as the happy couple they were and with telling stories about their perfect love and perfect life (which most certainly wasn't the case, and that in itself was a perfection Chris preferred to any fairytale) and soon switched to trying to pull them apart. First it were just tiny things, of one of them alone with ridiculous speculations on their nonexistent fight or needing space or whatever (in truth, nothing had changed, but Chris is by now used to the way magazines twisted things), and then it got gradually less tiny—and most recently, they became totally obsessed with Zach.

Chris is almost paranoid enough to believe they are trying to get to him by portraying Zach as the handsome, attractive guy he is and emphasising how sad a thing it is that he is ' _currently_ in a relationship'. They speak of Chris as if he were an accessory at best, if they mention him at all that is. And then they start 'noticing' how good Zach looks with this person and that; people from the Heroes set or other jobs of his, interviewers, journalists, hell, even Starbucks baristas; just generally everyone who he stands in reasonable range with for long enough for the paps to snap a photo—and those guys are damn quick.

 _It drives Chris crazy._

He knows he shouldn't put so much weight on them and he doesn't, he's not really jealous or anything—hell, Zach is the one who has the least to do with all of this, except for his inevitable _being hot_ and _being there_ , both of which Chris is very grateful for—but it pisses him off, big time. And the worst probably is that Zach doesn't notice; he laughs him off with the carefree grin of someone blissfully unaware, and really, it makes Chris want to put him on a leash and never let him out of his sight. Except that wouldn't solve the problem, and is kind of ridiculous as, and he is perfectly aware of that, it's really not Zach's fault.

So he settles for telling himself he's overreacting and trying to act normal, at which he fails because while Chris is a good actor (or at least he likes to think that people wouldn't pay him for playing big roles if he weren't; he can't really judge himself neutrally, only feels like he sucked or like he did well), he totally sucks at keeping things inside, especially at keeping them from Zach, which, in essence, is a good thing, he supposes. But it makes Zach the teeniest bit annoyed and a great bit exasperated, which leads to Chris trying to not pay attention to anything in the magazines or the TV or the radio while he's at Zach's—and that, of course, is doomed as well, so Zach is stuck with an irritated and pouty Chris, and Chris is stuck with an exasperated Zach who's belittling his feelings, which _doesn't help at all_ , thank you very much.

And then something happens.

Later, much later, Chris will wonder if it really was the first time, or if it was just the first time he noticed (kind of like the egg-or-chicken-thing, at least with a similar ability to annoy and confuse), but during and directly after The Incident, he does not.

The Incident is Chris and Zach going tea shopping—well, that isn't The Incident, but The Incident happens while they are tea shopping. Zach had recently developed a thing for exotic teas, so they are in some kind of tea shop; Chris is whining that coffee is stronger and tastes better (on Zach's tongue) while Zach is trying to decide whether he wants a crazy mix (something like chilli banana, for example) or just something expensive, like green tea plucked by virginal Tibetan monks only at dawn every third Wednesday of the month, or something like that, when she pops up.

The tea shop clerk.

She sneaks up on them like clerks are wont to do, startling Zach into dropping the packet of something that to Chris kind of more looks like it was what left the Tibetan monks' gastric system than the green tea it supposedly is, whereupon she immediately crouches down with him to pick the stuff up, apologising over and over again. And when they stand again and have both sufficiently apologised (really, sometimes Chris wonders if his boyfriend has some British in him and has just neglected to tell him) she starts to advise Zach.

But _how_.

To an increasingly alarmed Chris, it looks more like she is trying to sell some erotic product instead of goddamn dry leafs (or fruits, or, uh, other dry things that people poured hot water over to be able to label them tea); she constantly looks up at Zach through her wildly fluttering eyelashes, licks her suddenly pouty lips, speaks with a lowered, suggestive voice, touches his arm all the time; she really goes through everything in the books that could be considered halfway subtle. And she isn't subtle at all.

At first, Chris had been full of disbelief (and it probably had been painted plainly on his face, but that didn't matter because neither the girl nor Zach were paying attention to him); then half amused, half exasperated to finally settle on mild annoyance, because even after twenty minutes, Zach does nothing to discourage her. He doesn't exactly encourage her either, but Chris is aware that she would misinterpret his interest in tea in interest with her, and he does _not_ like it. Honestly, he has never been so relieved to leave a shop ever before; not even when his sister had dragged him to a five hours lasting wedding dress shopping trip. Zach had his tea and was happy, Chris had his Zach and was halfway happy, and the girl was probably just now gushing to a friend on the telephone on how Zach Quinto had flirted with her, oh-em-gee!, but Chris didn't care. He didn't even connect The Incident to that other stuff in the press until it happened again—and this time they were almost at work.

It was just a movie premiere they had been invited to, and Chris had been looking forward to it because Karl was starring and during filming, which had been in winter, he had called Chris once and complained on how his balls were freezing off, which Chris had translated into Almost Naked Karl In This Movie, which was good, and Zach had been looking forward to it because it was the film adaption of some book he had read and liked. Which was good too. Except they showed up together (not really colour-coded anymore, because if you are actually publicly outed as a couple it is kind of embarrassing and neither of them want to come off as one of those couples who wear the same clothes at the same time) and the photographers went crazy on them and the interviewers too, which brought upon them The Interviewer.

Not that they hadn't had their fair share of strange interviews or interviewers before, and most certainly they had been flirted with (and flirted back) before as well, but this one was Different. Because instead of standing in front of Zach, back to the camera, he went to stand next to him, which wasn't that unusual yet (except that on the red carpet, it wasn't allowed or at least frowned upon, Chris didn't know which but he knew that few reporters ever did it), except he stood so close he was definitely in Zach's personal space.

Chris had been a few metres away; he had seen someone he knew and gone to greet them, because he and Zach weren't attached at the hip and didn't need to follow each other everywhere (except in their hearts, and that they did). He had a small chat with the girl, and when he turned back to Zach, he was practically cuddling it up with The Interviewer. Or more like, The Interviewer is cuddling up to him while Zach is totally engaged in whatever he is saying, but it had the same result: them looking intimate. Usually, Zach doesn't like other people in his personal space except those who had a written permission to invade it, but it seemed that written permission had turned into a Green Card that had been raffled off, and The Interviewer had won. Which, basically, sucks, and maybe even hurts a little too, but Chris is storing that away for later. He is not only in public, but in something like the superlative of _in public_ ; he is on the red carpet, which means hundreds of cameras and video cameras are turned on him or at least in his general direction, not to mention all the people who could be his future colleagues or employers. No. Chris knows how to behave in public, and so he walks back to Zach and grins and jokes and 'abducts' him because just at that moment, Karl seems to be having a free moment and they really need to greet him. And Zach knows how to behave in public, and so he grins and jokes back and lets him drag him away, and only when they are home and alone, he asks him what happened.

And for a moment, Chris is scared to tell him. He thinks about the picture they made, Zach totally caught in his own thoughts and The Interviewer practically snuggled into his side, looking up at him with wide, adoring eyes, microphone tilted towards Zach, and about how Zach always laughs at him when he complains how the journalists are trying to make it look like they're fighting, or in danger of breaking up. Because he knows that right now, he couldn't bear Zach laughing him off; it's okay when he's being ridiculous and maybe he's even being ridiculous right now, but he just can't bear it.

But even less can he bear the thought of lying to Zach, or of simply not telling him what is going on; lying would be awful, and silence would make Zach start to worry, and that'd be awful too.

So he draws a breath and says, "That interviewer."

Zach tilts his head, not understanding. "Which interviewer?"

"The one who was practically glued to your side while he interviewed you."

Comprehension and, Chris inwardly flinches, exasperation dawn on Zach's face, and it makes him draw back and defend himself. "Look, I just didn't like him, okay?", he says angrily and turns away, starts to walk towards their bedroom, pulling angrily at his tie.

"Chris!", Zach calls after him, and he whirls around, glaring. "What?"

It takes Zach and his goddamn (sexy, hot, wonderful) long legs only three strides to catch up with him, and his expression is earnest, honest when he puts his hands on Chris' hips, pulls him so close they can almost not look at each other anymore without their eyes crossing. "I didn't like him either," he says calmly, and Chris quickly lowers his eyes, suddenly feeling ridiculous—but still fragile enough it wouldn't be alright if Zach laughed now.

The next morning, everything is alright again; Chris is happy and content and his muscles are aching because of how hard he fucked Zach that night, and his ass is hurting because of how hard Zach fucked him afterwards, and everything is good and as it should be.

Until Chris, while zapping, stumbles over a report of last night's movie and, amused, he watches it, enjoying the snippet of the half-naked Karl-scene in the preview—and then he sees The Interview. One short moment he spends groaning inwardly at his luck; he just _had_ to accidentally zap to The Interviewer's channel, hadn't he? But then he just watches and tries not to let his good mood waver; he probably should switch channels or something, but he doesn't want to—he argues with himself that he has to get used to this, it's apparent he has a small jealousy problem, kind of like an allergy to people flirting to Zach, and avoidance won't make it better. More of the opposite, actually, while overexposure most likely will help him get over it. He knows, after all, that Zach is with him and doesn't intend to leave anytime soon, if ever.

Not that Zach said it, but Chris… just knows. Or at least he thinks he does, but Zach isn't someone who would live a lie. And he won't let other people, others' stupid opinions, make him doubt Zach.

"He really is awfully close," Zach comments from behind him, and Chris actually flinches. Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't really paid attention, but he probably wouldn't have heard Zach anyway; he has the uncanny ability to move really silently. Chris blames the yoga. "It looks even worse."

Chris licks his lips. "Worse than what?"

Two arms wrap around him from behind, and then he feels Zach nuzzling his hair before he turns his head to explain, voice low in his ear and breath hot, "It was creepy; he asks me this question about the book, and a really elaborated question too, so either he really read it or somebody who did told him to ask it, and then suddenly he all but smears himself into my side while I reply—and I couldn't really tell him to back off, you know how it is, one wrong move and you end up being totally denunciated in the press. I was glad when you came to save me."

And Chris laughs and puts his hand in Zach's hair and thinks that there really is no problem.

It is predictable in a reverse-logic, Murphy's Law kind of way that the next time they go into a club, five days after Karl's movie premiere, people succeed in ruining Chris' re-found security in their relationship in less than one hour. Though to say that he is insecure in their relationship isn't exactly right either, because it's still not Zach's fault, but it nonetheless does affect Chris that whenever he comes back from the toilet—or getting some drinks, or whatever else causes them to leave each other's side for a while—there's a flock of people flirting with Zach. Even when Chris is there they're eyeing him (them both, but Zach especially), and he knows the second he'll be gone, they'll all but jump his boyfriend. And it's really not something he likes, not even something he can appreciate the humour of in a dry kind of way, like Zach—so that and the not little amount of alcohol Chris ingested result in him clinging to Zach's arm when the end of the evening is near, and glaring at everyone who even fleetingly glances in their direction. Zach rolls his eyes at him when he's too obvious, but most of the time he's too busy chatting with Zoë and, when she leaves every now and then, he kisses the frown off Chris' face and whispers to him what he wants to do when they get home (occasionally he varies to the club toilet or their car) and makes him laugh by mock-voicing the thoughts of the people they see; the bartender, he says, is desperately yearning for some tomato-juice with thymine, pepper and sugar, and he'd most prefer to lick it off his best friend's girlfriend's back. All in all, it's an evening not as bad as it could be, especially when Zoë leaves (and Chris loves her, he really does, but there's something about having Zach's complete attention that can't be topped by anything, or anyone) and Zach's tongue spends more time in Chris' mouth than his own.

And then something happens.

A guy walks up to them; he's not bad-looking and his eyes are friendly and open, but Chris tenses up on instinct. There's just _something_ in his expression. Zach either doesn't see it or pretends he doesn't; Chris has had enough cocktails to not be able to be smooth and polite anymore, not that he feels like it in the first place.

"Hey," the guy says, looking at Chris. "I'm Tony. You two up for a threesome?"

Zach gapes, and Chris pulls out his most evil glare in less than 0.1 seconds.

" _No!_ ", he hisses, Zach's hand warm and reassuring around his waist and tightening, pulling him closer. "I think you better leave," Zach says to the guy, and Tony raises both hands reassuringly. "Hey, no hard feelings. It was just a question." And then he's gone, and Chris is trembling in anger, staring after him.

"Can you believe that?", Zach says incredulously, purposefully ignoring the way Chris is glaring into the crowd where Tony vanished, and wraps his other arm around Chris' neck and shoulders. For one tense moment, Chris doesn't react; then he releases the fists his hands have balled into and turns into Zach. He wants to say something funny, but before he can even think of something Zach's tongue is back in his mouth, and there's a strangely desperate feel to it that Chris wonders about, but feels himself.

They don't fuck in the car on mutual, silent agreement; usually it'd be fun, but this time Chris knows it'd make them feel cheap.

It's okay, the next morning. They joke about it and there really is no bitter aftertaste; it _is_ a kind of funny experience, one of those you retell at get-togethers with friends when you're all pleasantly drunk to laugh about and tease each other with, but not even important enough to include in your memoirs forty years later. They spend the next two weeks with each other, work a not always pleasant distraction, and Zach continues trying to teach Chris how to cook. His success-rate is half-half; half the time Zach's presence helps, the other half it's distracting him even more. Chris loves eating, but he just doesn't have the patience to cook elaborated or complicated meals.

Then Zach is gone to shoot for _Heroes_ again, and though Chris misses him, it's alright. He's a big boy—they're both big boys—and he does have a life outside of his relationship; they both do. It's alright, which is okay, though of course it'd be better if Zach were there, especially in the quiet moments when he's lying in bed and trying not to pout because it's empty, but he's fine. He's becoming increasingly well at ignoring the paps and the mags and just the press in general and what they're printing about them (still break-up rumours; at the moment they have settled for claiming they're 'giving each other space'), until Hayden, whom he has become good friends with, sends him a cellphone-video from the Heroes set, which technically isn't allowed as far as he knows, but she says she trusts him and besides, she wants to make him at least know what it's like where Zach is working. Which is cute and supporting and makes Chris kind of giddy that their relationship is so accepted where Zach works (it'd be awful if it weren't, because Zach loves being Sylar and working for _Heroes_ )—until he sees the video. Hayden is cute, and a couple of other people who wave for him are too, but Zach is sitting a little farther away and deeply engaged in a conversation with someone Chris doesn't know. Which, in essence, isn't that dramatic because they don't need to know about everyone the other knows, but the way they sit indicates that it's at least a better acquaintance, if not actually a friend. Hayden's voice in the background says, "and that's Zach and Tim, I better don't go and interrupt them, they look like they're having an important discussion-- _again_."

Chris tries to be calm and zen-ish, but he can't help that he suddenly notices the articles again, and when he realises that Tim is the guy that has recently been rumoured to be Zach's affair, he almost throws a tiny fit (because he's too old for big ones by now). Not because he believes them, but because he's pissed off that people _still_ very apparently eat this up, want to read this, that they still don't believe that they, Chris and Zach, are serious; what the fuck is wrong with the world?, he thinks. It's not even about them being gay, because it's not only girls Zach is rumoured to have an affair with—or maybe it is after all and people don't believe they're capable of having a real, committed relationship with each other. Maybe they're still scared or too narrow-minded to recognise that a gay relationship is no different to a hetero one.

Whatever it is, he hates it, and fuming about it helps him not having to think about that Tim guy and Zach and why Zach never mentioned him.

And just when Chris is getting down from the peak of his annoyance, Zach, proud owner of The Uncanny Timing Extraordinaire TM, calls him, and before he knows it, Chris is spilling all his worries to him; how he wonders if people believe they're for real, and what does it say about them that they don't?, and how he hates that he lets it get to him, and how much he misses Zach even though really, he's old enough by now to be able to be perfectly fine even living alone, right?, and that sometimes he just wants to take Zach and move with him to a lonely island that only their friends are allowed to visit and that no news and no reporter and no paparazzi can reach. How he hates that he's wondering about Tim even though he knows that Zach loves him.

When he's done, Zach takes a deep breath and tells him how he hates that people think he'd cheat on Chris, how they believe he's some kind of asshole who isn't capable or willing to be honestly in love, honestly committed to someone, to _Chris_ ; how glad he is that at least their friends and family aren't like that, that nobody they care about has given them grief and that they in contrary support them, are happy for them. That he knows and hates that what the press is doing to them hurts them both, but especially Chris; how they are unable to prevent that it affects them. And most of all, he says, he hates that there is really nothing he can do; nothing either of them can do. If people want to rip them apart, they will, at least in the press, and he's terrified that one day, Chris will be fed up with it all and leave.

And as a side-note, he mentions that Tim's other nickname is Nick, because his full name is Timotheus Nicholas (and what were his parents thinking?), and suddenly things slip into place; Nick Zach has mentioned a couple of times, he's new on the staff, working for the costume-department, and he's a hobby-writer working on his first book. That's what they talk about most of the time.

"Oh," Chris says, and then he's laughing, and if he's crying a little, he doesn't really notice, and Zach doesn't mention it, but that could be because he might be crying too, but his laughter is louder; Chris wants to be quiet so he can enjoy the vibrations in his ear and whole being, but he can't yet.

"So, it's established we're both made of stupid drama sometimes," Zach finally concludes, still chuckling, and he sounds fine.

"That's why we match so well," Chris replies.

Zach nods (Chris can feel it) and says warmly, "Wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
